Various types of devices and systems for facilitating the migration of fish due to the presence of dams and other waterway obstructions, such as quarries, levees, water vessel locks, hydroelectric plants, and sewage and water treatment plants, are known in the prior art. The obstructions restrict or alter the natural migratory routes of salmon and other fish which, in turn, disrupts reproduction and subjects the fish to predatory attacks, improper lighting, insufficient food sources, and incorrect water temperature. The present salmon migration lift device assists salmon and other fish in overcoming these problems by providing a lift cable loop between two bullwheel terminals and a plurality of gondola buckets suspended from the lift cable loop which are filled with water and fish at a loading station on a downstream side of a waterway obstacle and which are emptied at an unloading station into a fish exit chute in fluid communication with the upstream side of the waterway obstacle.